Blue Turtle Award 2010 - WINNER

St Helena Millenium Forest Project

The Millennium Forest project is one of the most innovative,
ambitious and successful large-scale habitat restoration projects
taking place in the Overseas Territories.

The eastern half of St Helena was once covered
with a huge swathe of endemic forest known as the Great Forest.
However, by the 1700s most of the trees had been felled by
settlers. By the 20th century only a smattering of endemic Gumwood
trees survived.

In 2000, the Millennium Forest initiative was
launched, with the ambitious goal of reinstating up to 250 hectares
of native forest on degraded wasteland. To date, the St Helena
National Trust has co-ordinated the planting of over 10,000 Gumwood
trees and other endemic plants, covering 35 hectares of barren
eroded ground. Already the Gumwoods in the Forest are starting to
regenerate naturally, and the Trust is working with the Government
Conservation Section to expand the diversity of the forest with
other St Helena endemics.